The close of the semester is drawing and student finances are dwindling. Solution: start the Christmas job hunt.

Christmas is a hustling, bustling time of year so employers are always searching for desperate college students who are willing to work for minimum wage and for only a few weeks.

NIU’s Office of Job Location and Development is just the place to begin the hunt. Heather Lumb, Job Location and Development employee, said there are currently about 95 job listings specifically for Christmas help.

All a student has to do is go to the Job Location and Development office on the second floor of Swen Parson with their NIU student ID and request the Christmas job book.

Most of the jobs are “mall jobs”, Lumb said. Some of the malls currently listed include Woodfield, Springhill, Fox Valley and Cherryvale. Other jobs can be found in department stores.

Some job hunting hints: 1. Start looking now—Lumb said many employers want to start training students as soon as possible. 2. Look at a job that interests you—no one wants to be stuck doing something they hate for five weeks. 3. Work in a store you know something about—Lumb said employers often look for employees who are interested in what a company sells.

“A lot of positions are filled so students should come as soon as possible,” Lumb said.

A lot of times Christmas jobs can turn into permanent part-time positions or continue to be available to students during other breaks.

Marty Kuta, sophomore pre-busines major, said, “I have to go home and work to support my education.”

Sophomore visual-communication major Erin Julin said, “I need the money for next semester.”

If students aren’t going home to work they can look for a job right here in DeKalb. But they will have more luck on the other side of DeKalb according to some business owners.

As Mark Cerny, manager of Record Revolution, put it, “This part of town is a whole different ball game from the other side of town.”

Cerny said businesses close to the campus depend more upon the students for their sales and when the campus closes down, the business slows down.

Diane Mulopulos, manager of Keskasay, said she agrees. Mulopulos said she doesn’t hire additional Christmas help because most of the students are gone at this time and most of her customers are students.

K-Mart and Wal-Mart, however, both said they do hire additional Christmas help and quite a few of them are college students.

Jessie Munz, assistant manager of Wal-Mart, said they hire around 50 additional people a year because of Christmas. Munz also said some of these jobs turn into part-time jobs for the students.

At K-Mart, they hire an additional 10-12 people to help them handle the Christmas rush said Assistant Manager Jerold Parks. “We try to offer students the opportunity for a part-time job,” he said.